Hey this thread is to talk about little things from FFXI that you loved. I'm just going to name a few. I want to hear what you guys miss about it. I'm talking in past tense because most of us don't still play it.

* How some weapons are strong against certain families of monsters, like blunt versus skeles or piercing versus crabs
* Having a print out of the skillchain tree sitting by your monitor. That was so much fun for teamwork.
* Having slow, hard battles that were conducive for chatting, strategizing, coordinating.
* The way that chatting during battles eventually led to friendships, reputations, enemies
* Customizing your role with a subjob
* The thrill of snagging a notorious monster before a competitor
* The rivalries between linkshells
* The 8-aspect magic wheel, and how it affected most jobs especially black mage

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RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya

* how integrated the concept of elements were - with a proper elemental wheel
* I liked that you had to carry a cache of various weapons and armor to switch out constantly based on your particular moves or target. I know a lot of people loathed this but I thought it was a great way to keep a lot of gear relevant and I enjoyed collecting various bits and bobs to be the best I could be.
* I also miss the slower battles for the same reasons you do. 14's constant dodging and breaking up the fight for various mechanics makes it feel more like a coordinated dance than a battle. I liked having to worry about battle related things such as monitoring how much TP you were feeding the boss, hate build being an issue, and deciding when the optimal time to carry out an attack would be. I liked that a large battle by one linkshell became a spectacle for others to come and watch.
* Jobs were more varied and far more interesting. A lot of this had to do with the battle system having so many nuances that allowed for this. I'll admit it also had some negative effects on the game, but at least all the jobs felt completely unique to one another and all had their own unique contribution.
* Player actions in battle being interactive. Again, this came at a price, but it was really fun to have jobs or actions of jobs work specifically with others. Such as Thief had a strong attack that created a lot of hate on a character. Dragoon had a move that for the most part reset their hate build, so these two jobs paired together made an ideal situation. Not to mention skillchains and bursts were hella fun. Yes, complicated but hella fun.
* XI had way better furniture for mog house.
* Food was relevant. You'd get kicked out of a party if you weren't maxing yourself with good food.
* Chocobo digging was a fun side activity I wish they'd add this to 14
* I miss the feeling that your character was more or less just in for the ride of more powerful NPC's. 14 makes me feel too godly, like I could overthrow all these city-states with a snap of a finger- so why don't I? Why do I even need or care for any of their alliances or help. I just never feel like I'm in danger and because the NPC characters are all weaker than I am, I find them easily written off and boring. Like access baggage.
* Zone design was excellent. So many memorable zones and music.
* Slow leveling and starting each new job at level 1. This really extended the content out a LOT and made you feel really proud and accomplished once you did level up. I liked that by the time you maxed out a job you felt really confident that you knew your stuff.

There's a lot of things I prefer in 14 over 11 though (mind, I left 11 in the middle of aht uragan)

* Simple, fast, easy travel. I don't like spending most of my game time just getting somewhere. I still have horrible memories of that mountain in XI. I hope the designer stubs his toe over that /angry fist
* More character design options - course I can understand why 11 was so limited for it's time.
* Extreme balance eliminated job bias. Since each job has been widdled down to a specific role, and it really matters not which job you showed up as within that role, making parties for anything is a simple task. I appreciate that I don't get slandered for playing the job I prefer in the role I prefer and can get into pretty much any event I would care to do. Of course this means I lose out on all the fun that unique roles in 11.
* Clear quest markers and objectives

Probably more but that's it off the top of my head for the mo

You're right about the zones being excellent. They were all unique and memorable. And different pieces of gear being important for different things. Loved that. Gear was more than just a level number.

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RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya

I enjoyed the slower battles, as well, since they weren't as twitchy. I think it opened up content to a lot more people, in that it wasn't a dodgefest where your IP's ping is something people had (have?) to pay for a separate program in order to be viable in content. haha

That being said, our first 2-hour Kirin fights were pretty brutal from a scheduling point of view.

Having gear persist longer, sideways progression or whatever, was also nice, but I can understand the wanting to dangle the carrot in front of people for getting new sets of gear. It probably keeps more people interested than it does scare people off.

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here's two more

* I liked having a camp site you pull monsters back to.
* I liked being rewarded for skilling up weapons and abilities

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RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya

The sense of danger when entering certain areas. I remember sneaking through places for quests and holding my breath while tiptoeing past mobs that could take me out quickly if sneak/invis dropped.

One scenario example...Castle Oztroja for the limit break quests when you have to drop invis when Yaguado backs are turned to open doors. Or when you have to find the ??? that are surrounded by true sight NMs. And if you get killed, you know it will be another painstaking 50+ minutes to walk back to that point.

That sense of danger made exploration in FFXI feel special to me. FFXIV is very forgiving in terms of exploration, because you can just shrug off anything that aggros you by dancing in circles....in FFXI you are fucked if there isn't a zone nearby.

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yea the sense of danger for sure.

monsters chasing you relentlessly across entire maps was a pain, but i actually kinda liked it in hindsight, for the reasons you mention. ff14 gave monsters a tiny radius and if they leave that radius they run back home. i hate that. it doesn't feel right. and it's super annoying when you lose a monster you've halfway killed. ff11 eventually found the best solution: monsters will chase you relentlessly, but if you lose aggro for whatever reason, they poof and disappear so that way they can't attack innocent players.

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RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya

There wasn't a ton of craziness I was able to do as a WHM when it came to fighting monsters. I know Hexastrike was pretty nice. But hanging out in Valkurm Dunes and protecting Selbina from goblin trains was one of the things I did like doing when I had some down time.

I still think that we look back favorably in FF11 at a lot of stuff we'd legitimately find obnoxious to deal with now, but yah. It was just a different era of MMOs back in those days.

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I enjoyed waiting for 2 hours to get a party... then getting mad EXP when a Japanese group would party with you.

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Take my hand, brave adventurer. We face this dungeon together - with FRIENDSHIP!

XI was my first MMO. I especially loved the simplicity of the menus, and that I didn't need a mouse. Most other games I have tried had way too much crap on the screen to keep track of. XI made it easy to appreciate the surround areas and mobs.

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I loved how unnecessarily hard everything was. Sounds silly, but you had to pour your heart and soul into that game to get anywhere. Just finding a party took hours. Hahaha.

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75 DRK
Joining Of Six

it was worth it too. nothing was handed to you, and gear actually lasted years instead of every 3 months. It was all about knowing the game not just over gearing everything.

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Take my hand, brave adventurer. We face this dungeon together - with FRIENDSHIP!

I will agree with the sideways gear progression. I'm not sure if that can work in a game now, but it was nice knowing that you'd probably still have a use for that Noble's Tunic that cost you millions of gil even after a year, or two, of using it.

I think the constant outdating of gear is what really kills MMOs for me now. That and achievement hunting. Man... achievements in MMO are the devil's work.

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I know this is an old thread, but on a whim I decided to listen to the FFXI soundtrack recently and it made me really miss this game and that time in my life. I'm biased because I was young, it was my first exposure to an MMO, and I believe it was released at a time when MMOs were still being pioneered.

Regardless, I still believe it was an excellent game that created a unique experience that is difficult to put into words. I think a big part was the art, the music, and the fact that everything you did in the game felt meaningful - nothing was just handed to you and everything felt like an adventure. There were so many "landmark" events that created memories that everyone could share.

I haven't played the game in probably eleven years and I can still remember specific memories, items, names, etc. Having to purchase maps and slowly piece the world together, traveling on foot to Jeuno for the first time, getting the Khazam airship pass and being excited to find a group in Yuhtunga Jungle, doing level caps, seeing armor or weapons on other characters that I could look forward to getting, doing limit breaks... the list goes on and on and on. These are vivid memories.

It makes me a little sad that I know I'll never have another experience like this again - even if it existed, life is too busy to keep up with a game like that anymore. Sometimes I think about going back and creating a character, but I know the game has been patched so much over the years that it wouldn't feel the same if I did return.

I'm content to leave FFXI in the past, but it was the most engrossing experience I've ever had with a video game and I don't regret any of the time I spent playing it.

Yea I agree about the art and music. It had something magical that no other game can compare to. Thunderstomp and I were discussing it this week. The points in the original post about how the game was designed -- it was conducive for more socializing which was really the heart and soul of the game.

I listen to the FFXI soundtrack practically every single week for 15 years. I love it.

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RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya